The present invention relates to a device for feeding streams of tobacco on to a cigarette manufacturing machine.
The device according to the present invention is particularly suitable for use on dual-rod cigarette manufacturing machines, especially as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4.372.326 filed by the present Applicant, G.D. S.p.A.
On said cigarette manufacturing machine, a continuous stream of shredded tobacco particles is fed into the bottom end of an up-flow input duct, which comes out at the top inside two up-flow output channels terminating beneath a respective suction type conveyor travelling in a given direction, and separated by a wall comprising a downward-facing wedge-shaped bottom portion facing the top end of the up-flow duct. The bottom end of the dividing wall is usually provided with means for separating and feeding the tobacco particles up into the up-flow channels.
In actual use, the tobacco particles travelling along the up-flow duct are fed, with no change in direction, through a chamber between the up-flow duct and up-flow channels, and, on encountering said separating means, are fed into one or other of said up-flow channels. A major drawback of the aforementioned feeding device is that the relatively high speed at which the tobacco particles encounter said separating means results in further shredding of the tobacco particles and almost complete removal of the so-called "long" filaments on which ultimate cohesion of the tobacco in the finished cigarette depends.